Thursday, March 13, 2008

The Nation Joins NDTVs Save the Tiger Campaign

The Nation Joins NDTV's 'Save the Tiger' Campaign4,80,000 People Across the Country sign-up, Demanding State Level Action

New Delhi, Delhi, India, Monday, March 10, 2008 -- (Business Wire India)People gathered in large numbers, across the country to support NDTV and Sanctuary Asia Magazines mass campaign - 'SAVE THE TIGER'. The campaign, which started a fortnight back to stop the alarming decline in the number of tigers in India, culminated in a nationwide signature campaign yesterday. The campaign received extremely favourable responses with over 4,80,000 signatures, SMS and online petitions from major cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Bhubaneshwar, Dehradun, Srinagar, Lucknow, Jaipur, Guwahati, Chandigarh, Bhopal, Patna and Ahmedabad.

'Save the Tiger' campaign urges the Prime Minister to hold an emergency meeting of the National Board for Wildlife to consider the threat to the tiger; Chief ministers of every State to establish a protection force for tigers; up gradation of forest guards to the level of police with better compensation; and setting up of an improved intelligence network that is critical to crack poaching.

On the solution to the decline in the tiger numbers, National Wildlife Board Member, Valmik Thapar, said, "Like the PM needs Black Cat commandoes for his protection, if the tiger has to live, it needs a protection group for it to make it safe."

Appreciating the public's response to the campaign, Bittu Sehgal, Editor, Sanctuary Magazine said, "It is really a great occasion where so many people have come forward to sign in favour of this campaign. We actually want to convey the message across to the PM that we want the tiger to be saved across the nation as it is a sense of what India is".

Apart from nationwide public support, the campaign was also backed by other celebrities, well-known environmentalists and NGOs. Bollywood stars Aamir Khan, Hrithik Roshan, John Abraham, Kareena Kapoor, Preity Zinta and Farhan Akhtar, Sportsmen Rahul Dravid, and Rajyavardhan Rathore came out to support this movement.

About NDTV

NDTV Ltd, founded in 1988, is India's largest news and infotainment network. For more information visit www.ndtv.com.